Mental health apps are the new venture capital darling, with new providers and startups working to make services more accessible. Woebot Health, Koko, Wysa, and Lasting provide AI mental health services right on users’ smartphones. The Turing Institute continues to work on mental health applications of NLP technologies. Shiseido used conversational AI technology to target a new, younger demographic.

UK-based and Germany-based startups raised $16.8 billion and $5.3 billion more in total venture capital funding last year than their French counterparts—a larger gap in both cases than in 2020, per a 2022 report from CB Insights.

And several recent venture capital war chests focused on fintechs—including Ribbit Capital’s $1.5 billion pot—also augur elevated investment in the sector.

Companies such as Google and Amazon have explicitly set up internet venture capital funds or incubators to encourage sustainable technology. Amazon seeded its Climate Pledge fund with $2 billion, for instance. And numerous CPG firms and retailers have come together to invest in the Closed Loop Fund to finance circular supply chains that limit waste and protect the environment.

UK venture capital firms have typically been later-stage investors, meaning startup founders have had to rely on angel investors, bank loans, and even their own cash for early funding. In October, Clarus Investments found that UK Pre-Series A funding peaked in 2018 at $339.8 million and declined in both 2019 and 2020.

Global fintech funding smashed records last year, more than doubling to reach $131.5 billion—that’s over one in every five venture capital dollars. But the tides have turned. Funding has dried up and many fintechs that IPO’d in 2021 have seen their valuations halved, or worse.

With private equity and venture capital funding frequently and aggressively flowing into primary care, a slew of startups are modeling their businesses around being easily accessible, tech-focused, and patient-friendly. These startups are doing so through a variety of models.

The news: Fintech-focused venture capital firm Ribbit Capital raised its seventh fund to the tune of $1.15 billion, far exceeding its $750 million target and more than doubling its January 2020 haul. How will it use the funding? Ribbit Capital hasn’t said which fintech sectors or geographies it will target—but we think B2B crypto firms might command a sizable share of the war chest.

Venture capital firms invested nearly three times more money in embedded-finance companies in 2021 versus 2020, per PitchBook. Big tech companies are also expected to show continued interest in banking—despite Google’s decision to pull the plug on Plex. However, they will likely attempt to do so by partnering with established financial institutions (FIs).

There's a lot of money still flowing into the sector from venture capital and private equity firms. It’s still historically cheap to make acquisitions from an access-to-capital perspective. A lot of the larger investors in this space—private equity and newly public companies—have the currency and desire to continue to expand through acquisition.

Q1 2021 was the largest quarter ever for venture capital funding in digital health, with mHealth apps bringing in $912 million. mHealth apps came second to telemedicine in all digital health funding categories, according to a Q1 2021 report from Mercom Capital Group. People are most likely to spend money on apps that provide leisure, relaxation, or entertainment. 

In 2019, companies with female CEOs represented 11% of all venture capital deals made globally. (This increases to 20% if a female founder is included.). Females are also under-represented among fintech users. A BIS global survey shows that while 29% of men use fintech products and services, only 21% of women do.

This is a highly dynamic space, with new startups emerging quickly and venture capital following the leaders. These players include new automakers like Tesla, Rivian, Aurora, and Canoo. New mobility players like Lyft, Uber, Via, and Wunder are disrupting vehicle fleet management.

The bigger picture: Driven by a cross-demographic spike in consumer crypto interest, venture capital funding is flooding the space—and infrastructure providers like NYDIG stand to profit. Sixty percent of US adults are now aware of Bitcoin, per a 2021 survey by Curiosity at Work, and 66% are in the UK, per a Coinbase 2021 survey.

Financial services: Includes commercial, investment, and retail banks, cooperative banks, credit unions, property and casualty, life and mutual insurance, credit agencies, personal and business credit institutions, mortgage lending, tax preparation, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital firms, wealth management, payment platforms, card networks, companies engaged in the underwriting, purchase, sale

Two other cards offering three features—Capital One Venture Rewards and Chase Sapphire Preferred—trailed it, with Capital One’s card finishing second on the strength of feature demand. Key Insight: Issuers need to reevaluate their travel and entertainment feature sets to increase consumer demand. ​​